SCRANTON — Mayor Wayne Evans envisions a day when parking rates on downtown streets vary by location.
The farther out from the downtown core, the cheaper the space.
Evans said Friday he recently urged the outside operators of the parking system, the nonprofit National Development Council, to review whether such zoned pricing is doable.
Efforts to contact NDC were unsuccessful.
Evans spoke of his idea during an interview about various changes to the city’s parking system of metered street spaces and garages. Parking-space payment kiosks are replacing street meters and eliminating 15-minute-free, loading-zone spaces in front of some businesses. Costs to park on streets and in garages will rise in 2020, as will parking-ticket fines.
Most increases were authorized under the city’s 2016 monetization of the parking system that unloaded operations to NDC.
Street parking will rise from $1.50 to $2 per hour — the same rate whether in the higher-demand area of Courthouse Square or parking dead zones on outer edges of downtown along parts of Mifflin and Franklin avenues and Vine and Mulberry streets.
Evans said he raised the zoned pricing idea a few weeks ago to NDC. Unlike old-fashioned street meters, the computerized “pay by license plate” kiosks will produce information about street parking usage and times. After about six months or so, NDC and its subcontractor that runs the parking systems, ABM Parking Services, should have a sizable amount of data to review in evaluating his idea for zoned street pricing, Evans said.
“We’ve asked them to come up with a zoned pricing plan. We think that would be much more fair than $2” per hour regardless of location, Evans said. “To me, it just makes sense. Who’s going to park on Mifflin or Mulberry or Vine for $2 an hour (if they can park in the core at the same cost)? Nobody. If you go there now, nobody parks there.”
Noting that about 80% of parking revenue comes from 20% of the downtown footprint, reduced rates in far-flung areas may entice motorists to park there, he said. Their trade-off would be having to walk farther to get to destinations in the core. And spaces that generate no revenue would instead bring in money, he said.
“Zero times zero is zero,” Evans said of empty parking spots. “People will walk a little further if you know you’ll get a better rate.”
NDC also is authorized to try a pilot program of a new, all-day street parking rate of $3.25 in certain downtown periphery areas, but payable only through the Pango mobile app. Whether, when and where this pilot program may occur are undetermined.
Meanwhile, as kiosks have sprung up, meter heads have come out and loading-zone parking spaces allowing 15 minutes of free parking in front of banks, pizzerias and other establishments have been eliminated. Such spots used to allow customers to pop in and out of establishments for quick pickups or transactions.
“It’s absolutely atrocious what they’re doing with those parking spots,” said Giovanni Piccolino of Buona Pizza on Lackawanna Avenue.
Evans said NDC intends to put back some loading zones, one or two within certain blocks where deemed necessary. Many loading-zone spaces were never authorized under city legislation, but instead just sprang up over time.
“We found out most of those loading zone were never authorized. You’re talking 30 to 40 years of signs going up,” Evans said.
If a business or entity can make a case for their own loading zone, they can request it through legislation, with review and vetting, similar to how permit parking spots get approved in neighborhoods, he said.
Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce President Bob Durkin said most reactions from businesses about parking-system changes have been about the new kiosks.
“The comments that I’ve heard have to do with kiosks — that it’ll take a little getting used to,” Durkin said. “It is indeed the way parking is moving across the country.”
Changes occurring now also have been years in the making, stemming chiefly from the city’s disastrous default on Scranton Parking Authority debt in 2012, Durkin said. That led to the city getting out of the parking business and bringing in NDC under a long-term lease of garages and meters. Now, three years into this arrangement, NDC has undertaken costly repairs of crumbling garages and modernizing of street parking, the costs of which get passed on to parkers.
“It’s a tough situation. It really comes back to what City Hall did and the foolishness of letting that lending go into default in the first place,” Durkin said.
The parking system remains a work in progress, Evans said.
“It’s still evolving. We’re still in the infancy state of this,” Evans said. “Next year, all garages will be much improved for the first time since they took over and kiosks will be in place, so let’s see what it brings. Take your analytics and information and let’s make changes based on facts.”
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